Young At Heart
by Thermopyle
Summary: A lie believed, a path changed, and two people meet.


Ranma belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. Ah! My Goddess! Belongs to Kosuke  
Fujishima. I'm just playing with them for the time being.  
  
This story takes place during the Mushroom of Aging arc in the Ranma  
manga, and during the Trials of Morisato arc in the A!MS! manga.  
Although I have given enough information in the story, I think, that  
knowing these stories isn't necessary, you may want to read them anyway  
simply to have a somewhat better idea of what is going on.  
  
Now, on to the fic:  
  
Young at Heart  
By Thermopyle  
http://thermopyle.anifics.com/  
  
#####  
  
"I... I'm sorry... Those were the last ones," Akane said, her soot-  
stained face downcast.  
  
Ranma looked at his now-older fiancee in horror, in shock at the idea of  
being stuck as a five year-old. He'd have to go back eleven years of  
school, his father would probably take him on a training trip again,  
since he was nowhere near old enough for any of his fiancees now... His  
thoughts were interrupted when Akane spoke again.  
  
"Please, try to be brave, and start your lives over again," she said,  
looking at him and Ryouga.  
  
Be brave? Start over? He studied Akane's face, and all he saw was  
pity. There was no real sadness, no despair. Just pity.  
  
She'd just lost her fiancé to youth, and she wasn't even upset about it.  
  
  
Ranma sat next to Ryouga, both staring forward silently. Ryouga, too,  
seemed lost in his gloom. No doubt he was capable of pulling off a Shi  
Shi Hokodan of epic proportions right now. Soun was playing the fool,  
trying to cheer them up with his idiotic behavior towards the children  
they didn't want to be, but neither of them paid him any attention.  
  
When dinnertime came around, he ate quietly, not speaking at all. His  
chopsticks moved at a slow, sedate pace. He wasn't hungry, but knew he  
needed to eat. A growing boy needs his food.  
  
Later, in the room he was sharing with Ryouga and his father, he had his  
eyes closed as he stretched out on his futon, listening. He inhaled and  
exhaled slowly, evenly, timing himself deliberately to conceal his alert  
state. He continued this for a half hour after the three of them went  
to bed, waiting until his roommates' breathing changed, for when they  
were asleep.  
  
Finally content that neither was aware, he sat up, careful not to make  
any noise, and moved out from under his covers. He slipped into the  
Umisenken for the extra security, then went about the room collecting  
his things. He grabbed it all, even his normal clothes, which were  
currently much too big for him. Putting on the old coveralls he'd  
borrowed from Akane earlier, he watched the other two with suspicion,  
hoping that fastening the buckles wouldn't wake them.  
  
Seeing no response, he picked up his bag and slipped out the window.  
  
  
He walked slowly down the street, unsure of his destination but knowing  
he couldn't go back. Ranma wasn't going to stay at the Tendous', not as  
he was, and even if he did find the Mushroom Forest he wasn't sure if he  
would return. Akane obviously didn't want him, and he certainly wasn't  
interested in any of the other girls. Whether or not he returned to his  
original age he would most likely have to find a new place to live. His  
options would be more limited if he stayed this young, though, so he  
really wanted to find those mushrooms.  
  
Not having any idea where Ryouga had found the damn things made it  
difficult.  
  
His back and legs were already beginning to feel the strain from walking  
and he'd only gone across Tokyo. Normally this would have taken only a  
couple of hours at the speeds he was used to traveling, but his smaller  
size and the pack he carried made that impossible. Before leaving the  
Tendous he had snuck into Akane's room and stolen some of her weights,  
using the little bit of Mousse's Hidden Weapons technique he knew to  
stuff them into his already-full bag. They'd increased its weight  
substantially, to a level he could barely support without staggering  
about. Ranma figured that if he couldn't find the mushrooms then at  
least he would have a head start on training this younger body to be  
stronger than his original was. Who knows, maybe one day he'd run into  
Ryouga again and this time he'd be both stronger and faster than the  
lost-boy, which would infuriate him to no end.  
  
So he trudged down the street, the mid-morning sun making him  
uncomfortably warm, and tried to figure out where to go. Should he  
explore the area right outside Tokyo, in hopes that the forest was  
nearby? The higher population of the city made it seem unlikely that  
something so relatively unknown would be located very close, but there  
was always that chance.  
  
Trying to decide where to go, he continued on his way, breaths coming  
deep and easy as he pushed himself determinately against both the mass  
at his back and the sense of inertia that insisted he remain in the  
district that had been his home over most of the past year.  
  
  
Ranma stopped in surprise, staring down at the girl who was collapsed on  
the sidewalk in front of him. She had dark, very tanned looking skin,  
and her hair was completely white. The odd markings on face gave her a  
rather appealing, exotic look that was quite cute at her current age,  
which was a couple years older than his own, and would no doubt later be  
part of a rather stunning image when she was grown up. If she was older  
he would have figured her for a fiancee, she looked like that type.  
  
Bending over and ignoring the ache in his legs, he shook her shoulder  
gently. "Hey, you okay?"  
  
She stirred slightly, rubbing her head and limbs along the ground and  
getting dirt in her previously pristine hair. "Sake," she whispered,  
her eyes cracking open and gazing up at him pleadingly. "I need  
sake..."  
  
"Um, aren't ya a little young for that?" he asked nervously, not  
entirely comfortable with the way she was looking at him.  
  
"No," she insisted. "I need sake!" her voice rose slightly at this as  
she tried to sit up, reaching out to grab his shirt. She gasped,  
falling back and clutching her arms to her chest before she could do so,  
and began shaking, little pain-wracked sobs consuming her body, her  
breath coming in short, quick inhalations, as though she were running in  
a race and at the end of her endurance.  
  
Ranma chewed on his lip momentarily in indecision, then nodded.  
"Right."  
  
He slipped the pack off his shoulders, grunting at the weight as it fell  
towards the ground with his short and weaker-than-expected arms being  
yanked painfully as he kept the descent slow enough to not break the  
contents. Ignoring the slightly numb feeling in his shoulders and  
elbows from the strain he had just put on them, he quickly turned around  
and ripped the top of the bag open, digging through its contents as he  
searched for the sake. He had stolen some from his father before  
leaving, since he couldn't find any extra money but his own and figured  
that if necessary he could trade the sake for food somewhere. This girl  
seemed to need it more, though.  
  
Finding one of the bottles, he yanked it out and unscrewed the top, then  
squatted down next to the girl and offered it to her awkwardly. "Here,"  
he said.  
  
She reached out desperately with a shaking arm, grabbing at the bottle.  
The sake splashed around, soaking her top as she drew it back to her  
mouth to suck greedily at the contents. At first she barely managed a  
few tentative swallows, then she seemed to grow more steady, her shaking  
coming to a halt. She sat up, still holding the sake, and soon she was  
guzzling it down, upending the bottle in an attempt to drink the sake as  
quickly as possible.  
  
Ranma stared in disbelief when the bottle was emptied and the girl  
continued to hold it upright above her, her tongue extended slightly and  
mouth open, begging for a few more drops. Eventually she gave up and  
dropped the bottle to the side, making a slight clinking noise as it hit  
the sidewalk. She sagged forward, sitting up still but leaning on her  
hands. Her breathing began to slow, and he stared curiously at her, now  
unable to see her face, which her hair had fallen in front of.  
  
"Um... are ya okay?"  
  
She twitched, as if suddenly remembering he was there, then gave out one  
last, relieved breath and sat back up, using her hands to brush her hair  
back. She smiled at him, her face a bit red and her eyes slightly  
unfocused. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm just fine," she slurred, then hiccoughed  
slightly.  
  
"Right," he said doubtfully, not liking the slightly vacant expression  
on her face but deciding to trust her word. "Well, I'll be goin' now."  
  
He stood back up from where he had been sitting and watching her  
earlier, then started to tie the top of the bag closed again, keeping a  
careful eye on the girl.  
  
She looked at him for a minute, then tried to stand up. She wasn't  
successful and fell back down, almost hitting her face on the concrete  
before he caught her.  
  
"What the hell are you doin'?" he demanded, trying to get a grip around  
her waist and shoulders since she was no longer even attempting to stand  
on her own. His hand kept getting tangled in her hair, which was strewn  
about her shoulders, and she grimaced slightly in pain as he  
accidentally tugged on it.  
  
"I. . . need to go home," she managed to get out.  
  
He sighed, having managed to support her fairly steadily. He wasn't at  
all comfortable with the way he was holding her, standing with her body  
leaning against his, one of his shoulders up against hers and his arm  
stretched across her back and curled around under her arm pit, but she  
didn't seem to be objecting or trying to hit him, so it would do for  
now. Her head resting limply on her shoulder and her hair being right  
in his face was really distracting, though. "Okay, where do ya live?"  
  
Receiving no response, her shook her lightly. "Hey!"  
  
She started snoring lightly, and he swore. What was he supposed to do  
now?  
  
Looking around for some way to deal with the situation, he noticed that  
he was right next to a pretty large park, with lots of trees and a small  
lake. There were benches scattered about, mostly along the path that  
went winding around the edge of the water.  
  
It would do.  
  
He set her down gently on the sidewalk, careful not to hit her head on  
the concrete, then finished closing his pack. He slipped it over his  
shoulders, wincing slightly at the weight and knowing it was about to  
get worse. He stepped back over to the girl then squatted down next to  
her and snaked one arm under her shoulders, grabbing the far side of her  
body and pulling it towards him. His other arm went below her knees and  
he pinned them close together, making them easier to deal with. Then he  
took a deep breath and stood up.  
  
A minute later he was still standing there, looking with great annoyance  
at the distance between him and the park. His legs were shaking  
slightly, his lower back was demanding to be put out of its misery, and  
the girl was starting to squirm slightly in her sleep, making it more  
difficult to hold on to her.  
  
Gathering his resolve, he started taking one painful, strenuous step at  
a time towards the park, looking for a good place to wait.  
  
  
Urd woke slowly, and stretched lazily even as her senses started to kick  
in. The first thing she felt was that oddly full-body taste of  
deliciousness that sometimes followed a great nap. The second thing she  
noticed was that her chest was slightly chilled, making her shiver  
slightly despite the warmth of the sun shining down upon her. The third  
was that she smelled like sake, good sake, in fact. A pleasant smell,  
but one she didn't really like to have clinging to herself.  
  
Reasonably awake now, she sat up and looked herself over. Her jacket  
was damp, obviously the source of the smell, and was why her  
depressingly undeveloped nipples were cold. She frowned in annoyance,  
realizing that she couldn't simply use her powers to dry herself, and  
tugged it off, happy that she'd worn a regular shirt underneath it, the  
lighter material of which would dry faster. At least the jacket had  
absorbed most of the moisture, if her shirt had gotten completely soaked  
it would have turned transparent and she certainly wouldn't have liked  
that. Even Skuld's chest was bigger than hers right now, which was not  
something she was in a good mood about.  
  
After tying the jacket around her waist she used her hands to brush her  
hair back, grimacing at the tangles and snarls she encountered in doing  
so. Sleeping on the ground certainly wasn't good beauty treatment.  
What was she doing lying on the grass, anyway?  
  
Where was she?  
  
Glancing about she saw that she was in a small grove surrounded mostly  
by trees, and that there was a lake not far from her. There weren't any  
people about, but there was a massive pack, the type used for camping,  
near the edge of the lake. She was pretty sure it was what that boy had  
been carrying around, but wasn't he a bit small for something that  
heavy-looking?  
  
Shrugging it off, she managed to get to her feet, happy that her balance  
was just a touch off and that she still had a slight buzz. She wasn't  
affected by booze nearly as much as most people since it was her  
secondary power source, so the fact that she felt anything at all meant  
there was quite a bit of alcohol in her system and getting a recharge of  
it wouldn't be necessary for a few more hours. Which was definitely a  
good thing, since if that boy hadn't come along when he had and given  
her some sake there was no telling what would have happened. She'd been  
about to go into convulsions from the effort of not regressing, putting  
everything she had into it since she didn't have any way of telling just  
how far back she would age. She might have turned into a little baby  
with no way to return to the temple, and with Belldandy and Skuld both  
at the bare minimum of power levels as well they would have been unable  
to locate her with magic.  
  
Walking over to the camping bag she wondered where the boy had gone.  
Surely he wouldn't have just left his stuff here? The top was open, so  
she looked inside. There was a number of Chinese outfits, a few bottles  
of very nice sake, two scrolls, and some pictures. There was also a  
sleeping bag tied to the outside, a rather typical arrangement. She  
took the pictures out and looked at them. All of them featured either a  
pigtailed boy around sixteen years old or a girl with the same hairstyle  
and similar facial features. There were also others in the pictures,  
the most common being a pretty girl with short black hair who seemed to  
wear lots of frumpy looking dresses.  
  
Urd frowned at the pictures, then looked back in the bag at the Chinese  
clothes contained within, puzzled. She put the pictures down on the  
ground then took a set of pants out of the pack, just to make sure she  
wasn't imagining things. When she unfolded them she saw that she had  
been right, that the clothes were for somebody older, presumably the two  
people wearing them in the pictures, and that they were far too big for  
the boy whose pack this was to be wearing. So why did he have them?  
  
"You aren't a thief, are ya?" said a voice from directly behind her,  
causing Urd to jump slightly and twirl about, the pants in her grasp  
swinging in a wide arc as she did so. They would have hit the boy  
behind her if he hadn't leaned backwards just enough for them to miss by  
a few short inches. He glared at her, visibly annoyed, then looked over  
to his pack.  
  
"Um, no... I was just wondering where you were," she said, embarrassed  
both at being surprised and at being caught. She held the pants out to  
him, looking him over for the first time. Her eyes widened slightly at  
the somewhat girlish clothes he wore, not girlish as in something she  
would wear, certainly not, but girlish as in fairly gender-neutral with  
color-coding normally reserved for the less fashion conscious of  
females. He was wearing, of all things, a set of yellow overalls and a  
pink shirt. They looked really hideous.  
  
The weights he held in each hand, somewhere around fifty pounds each,  
completed the rather odd appearance he presented.  
  
Glancing down at the pants she held extended, which were of a rather  
nice quality silk in a stylish Chinese design, she asked, doubtfully,  
"Are these yours?"  
  
The boy looked down to his hands, which were full, then stepped over to  
his pack and placed the weights inside somehow, even though there  
shouldn't have been room for them. Then he turned back to her and took  
the pants, folding them up and putting them away as well. "Yeah,  
they're mine," he said, looking through the bag and visibly tallying the  
contents, which annoyed her to no end.  
  
"They look a bit big," she said abruptly, deliberately matching his  
rudeness. She was grateful for his help, but he was certainly being a  
jerk about it! To her surprised he paused at that, his shoulders  
dropping slightly.  
  
"You're right. They are a bit big," he replied quietly.  
  
Confused now, she watched as he silently tied the top of the bag down.  
Sure, the clothes were the wrong size for him, but what was upsetting  
about that? What an odd kid.  
  
The pack ready, he turned towards her again, his face neutral. "You  
okay now?" he asked.  
  
She stared at him for a moment before replying, "Yeah, thanks."  
  
He nodded, then picked up his bag, which even with the fifty-pound  
weights seemed to give him more trouble than it should have, from the  
easy way he had been handling them earlier. "Goodbye," he said, and  
walked away, taking the path that led around the lake.  
  
Urd stood there for a few minutes, trying to figure out what had just  
happened, then decided she could puzzle it out later and left the park,  
heading home.  
  
  
Checking the sun's position as he walked, Ranma guessed it was a little  
after one in the afternoon. That girl had only been asleep for two or  
three hours, somewhat surprising after the amount of sake she had drank.  
He scowled, looking down at the clothes he wore and remembering the way  
she had done the same. Akane had really bad taste when she was younger.  
Thinking of the pity and lack of anything else on her face the day  
before, he amended that thought; she still had bad taste.  
  
He'd spent the time waiting in practice. His backpack was too heavy to  
do kata in, it weighed probably three hundred pounds, and he didn't have  
anything else he could wear for a full-body workout. That had left  
holding a couple of weights for upper-body and arm strengthening as his  
only real option. They also put strain on his abdomen and back muscles,  
depending on the position he was in, as he used them to keep himself  
balanced. Sure, he could have just done without, but he was trying to  
train himself to be stronger and normal kata didn't help for that at his  
level. His body weight was just too low to take any real effort and  
only after hours of practice would his endurance start to flag, which  
meant the return on his labor would be really miniscule without some  
added difficulty. Even with the weights he had barely gotten a decent  
workout, which was why he hadn't been noticeably short of breath when  
the girl had woken up.  
  
Still, there had been something odd about her, and not just her looks,  
either, but also a weird aura that he couldn't identify. It wasn't  
anything dangerous but it was strange nonetheless. The closest thing  
he'd experienced to it was Ashura's aura, but the girl hadn't had four  
arms or three heads so it seemed unlikely that they were related in some  
way. The feel of her presence had still felt similar, however.  
  
One thing he was sure of was that she got some kind of power from sake.  
When he'd first found her, the strange feeling of power she exuded had  
been extremely weak and he'd barely noticed it. As she drank it had  
grown stronger, much more so, and by the time the bottle was empty he  
wouldn't have been surprised if a normal, unskilled person would have  
been able to sense that there was something weird about her. But why  
would sake cause such a difference?  
  
Something else that seemed odd was that she wasn't at school, and she  
should have been. So far he'd been lucky to not be seen by any cops or  
truancy officers, and if he was spotted he could just use the Umisenken  
to slip away, but the girl wouldn't have any such ability. Why was she  
out in the middle of the day, lying on the sidewalk and begging for  
sake? She seemed to young to be an alcoholic, and even if she was her  
reaction to it had been too quick for her to have been in some kind of  
weird withdrawal.  
  
Another thing that bothered him was that although she hadn't hesitated  
to start looking through his stuff, quite without permission, she hadn't  
intended to steal any of it. She was just curious. The way she had  
acted when he pretended to think she was a thief made that pretty clear,  
although while he had been watching her root through his bad he had  
noticed that she lingered a bit long on the sake contained within. Now  
that he was away from her he regretted doing it somewhat since he  
wouldn't have minded the company, but he was also glad that she wasn't  
around to keep asking him questions, too. Some of them could have  
gotten a bit awkward, especially if she'd noticed the 'remarkable'  
resemblance between him and the boy in the photographs. It would be one  
thing if they looked similar, but it was quite clear that he was a  
younger version, not just a sibling, which would have definitely caught  
her interest.  
  
Curious, an odd aura, a strange reaction to sake. . . definitely a weird  
girl. The fact that she wasn't immediately violent made her even more  
abnormal. No doubt about it, though, if she was older she would have  
been a fiancee.  
  
Noticing that his thoughts had gone astray, he dismissed her from his  
mind for the time being.  
  
What was he going to do? He still hadn't decided where to go. Did he  
really want to find those aging mushrooms? Being as young as he would  
did limit his options somewhat as far as where he could live, since  
while a sixteen year-old could find work without too much difficulty, a  
five year-old certainly didn't have the same ability. He no longer had  
a real identity, 'Ranma Saotome' was sixteen years old and there was no  
way that he could pass himself off as such. So there were some very  
large problems with his current situation.  
  
Turning back to his real age did have its own issues, however, mainly  
the extra fiancees. Ukyou had hunted him for ten years and wouldn't  
give up unless marriage seemed completely impossible. His sudden onset  
of youth was one of the very few ways he could get out of that  
engagement. The same was true for Shampoo, who had managed to track him  
across China and into Japan with very little difficulty and if she had  
even the slightest clue that he had returned to being her age she  
wouldn't hesitate to do it down again.  
  
He certainly wasn't going to marry Akane, either. Her feelings on the  
matter were quite clear. Pity wasn't what you felt when you found out  
you wouldn't be able to spend the rest of your life with someone you  
love, and he certainly wasn't going to force himself on her if the only  
reason she was going along with the engagement was out of honor. It  
certainly didn't upset him that Ryouga was too young to carry out his  
own courtship, however. If it had just been him who was trapped as a  
child he would have made sure to reveal the pervert's curse before  
leaving, bushido or no.  
  
Ryouga, if he were smart, would realize that the chances of keeping his  
curse from being revealed were substantially lower now that he would no  
longer have somebody to help him keep it hidden. Being in as young a  
body as he currently was, having Akane find out about her precious 'P-  
chan' might very well be a fatal experience for the lost boy. Hopefully  
the idiot would realize this and split while he still had the chance.  
They might have been rivals but he still didn't want Ryouga to get  
killed for his foolishness.  
  
Fortunately he wasn't really pressed for time. The money he had would  
last a few days before he would no longer be able to buy himself food  
and water, plus he still had a couple of bottles of sake to sell after  
that if he needed to. None of his fiancees were likely to hunt him down  
so quickly, if they bothered to at all. They didn't have any pictures  
of him at his current age, which would certainly make things more  
difficult for them. The idea of them trying to put a picture of his  
older self on a milk carton was amusing, however. He wouldn't put it  
past his father to try something so stupid.  
  
Feeling his legs begin to ache again, the short time he'd been walking  
with the pack on his shoulders beginning to take it's toll again, he  
decided that this park was quite the nice camping ground, assuming no  
police managed to run into him. He wasn't far from stores, he'd noticed  
one right outside where he had entered, and there was plenty of room for  
him to practice as much as he wanted. He'd stay here a couple of days  
while he tried to figure out what to do.  
  
Now, to find a good, fairly secluded spot to set up at...  
  
  
Urd stepped through the front entrance of the temple and frowned at the  
argument she heard coming from the living room. They still hadn't  
figured out what was wrong with the artificial moon rock? What was  
taking so long?  
  
"I've triple-checked and I'm sure the composition is right," said  
Keiichi as Urd moved to watch their discussion.  
  
"Why don't you just make two more of them?" asked Skuld, who, she noted  
with no small amount of annoyance, was still bigger than her. At least  
she was flat for her age, even if she was still bigger than Urd  
currently was. That was a small victory, at any rate.  
  
She noticed Belldandy was standing on the table the other two were  
sitting at, quietly watching them talk. Apparently she was content to  
let them figure out how to solve this situation.  
  
"Well," said Keiichi, "I don't know if we should use these anymore. If  
they aren't working right they could have some kind of side-effects."  
  
"Side-effects?" yelled Skuld, standing up and leaning on the table to  
get right in Keiichi's face. "What have you done to me?!?"  
  
Keiichi pulled back and noticed Urd standing in the doorway. "Oh, hi,"  
he said, turning towards her in an obvious attempt to derail Skuld's  
wrath. "Sorry, but we still haven't figured out what the problem is."  
  
She rolled her eyes slightly then glanced at her youngest sister.  
"Yeah, so I gathered." She smirked when she saw Skuld blush in  
embarrassment, then left to go wash off and change her clothes.  
  
Looking through the outfits she had in her room, she wondered where  
Belldandy had gotten clothes small enough to fit her without raiding  
Skuld's closet. Not that she would have worn Skuld's clothes, the  
tasteless things. They clearly weren't designed to emphasize the beauty  
of a body such as hers, even pre-adolescent as she currently was.  
  
Grabbing a pair of white shorts, stockings, and a shirt of the same  
color, she walked to the furo to take her bath.  
  
After spending an indecently long time soaking in the hot water, she  
slipped the clean clothes on and left the furo, glancing at the clock in  
the hallway when she did so. It was two in the afternoon and the  
alcohol was still in her system. The effects had faded somewhat but  
they were still mostly present, which meant that she still had a pretty  
good amount of time left before she'd have to guzzle down another  
bottle. Unfortunately the stuff she had on hand wasn't quite as good as  
what that boy had given her earlier, which was somewhat annoying. That  
had been good sake, if she'd been in less of a hurry she would have  
stretched it out a bit longer instead of chugging it all down right  
away.  
  
Casting the thought aside, she wandered back over to the living room to  
see if they'd discovered what the problem was yet. She quickly found  
out otherwise. Hearing Keiichi and Skuld yelling at each other except  
when Belldandy managed to calm the two down briefly just didn't seem as  
funny as it usually did. There was just something disconcerting about  
seeing your little sister suddenly turn a substantial amount bigger than  
you were. She'd been looking down on the brat for years, having the  
opposite happen didn't seem right at all. The situation just felt  
horribly wrong.  
  
Deciding to go find herself some better sake, she put on a pair of white  
shoes and again left the temple. She had seen a few places to get  
liquor at while walking around earlier so it shouldn't be too hard to  
manage in the couple of hours she had left.  
  
  
Ranma looked at his surroundings with complete satisfaction. It was  
perfect. A circular group of trees set a small distance from the lake,  
with enough cover between the leaves and bushes to keep the small grove  
in the center from being easily noticed. It was probably used for  
lovers' trysts; the grass was mowed just like the rest of the park so  
somebody had to know about the place yet still allow it to remain closed  
in. Regardless, it was perfect for his purposes. Secluded and blocked  
off enough from view that nobody would bother him, while still being  
large enough to practice in without having to limit his movements.  
  
Slipping the pack off his shoulders and wincing again at the strain, he  
set it down in the middle of the grove. Then he opened up and dug  
through the bag, looking for the small amount of money he'd hidden in it  
earlier. Once he found the money he tied the bag closed again and  
lugged the heavy thing over to the edge of the bushes, shoving it under  
one of the larger ones and using the hidden weapons technique to make it  
undetectable. He definitely didn't want to have his things stolen, then  
he'd really be in trouble.  
  
He stuffed the money into one of his pockets, shuddering in horror as he  
was once again forced to see what he was wearing. Too bad he didn't  
have enough cash to buy some new clothes, anything would be better than  
this. Well, almost anything. Being stuck having to wear 'Hello Kitty'  
stuff would have been pure hell, and not just because of the neko-ken,  
either.  
  
Trying to ignore his appearance for the moment and instead concentrating  
on the void in his stomach, he headed for the nearest park exit. He'd  
seen a grocery store over in that direction earlier, and he really  
needed something to eat. Sure, he'd had dinner last night, but since  
then he'd been walking constantly and he'd missed both breakfast and  
lunch so far today. Another skipped meal would probably be the death of  
him.  
  
Leaving the park, he turned up the street and walked to the store.  
After arriving he discovered a rather embarrassing problem; being alone  
in a grocery store at his age and pushing around a cart about the same  
size as he was attracted attention. It wasn't too bad, but having old  
women come up to him and talk about what a darling boy he was to fetch  
groceries for his parents, or even worse ask where his parents were, got  
annoying real fast. Thankfully he didn't have much to pick up since he  
was limited both in how much he could spend and in what kind of food he  
could buy. While it would probably be okay to hide out in the park for  
a few days, trying to use a cooking fire in the meantime would really be  
pushing things and was a sure way to gain unwanted interest.  
  
He ended up picking up a few different kinds of fruit, stuff he judged  
to be as filling as possible for the lowest cost. He needed water as  
well, but wasn't sure what kind to get and ended up grabbing a few  
bottles of some stuff that came from some springs on Mount Fuji, since  
it would probably be pretty good. He remembered that the water there  
was pretty cold when he visited, anyway, if not what it tasted like.  
  
Calculating how much it would cost for what he had in his basket, Ranma  
decided it was time to leave and began to move back towards the front of  
the store so he could pay. As he did so, he started hearing upraised  
voices arguing loudly. He frowned when he got close enough to see what  
the problem was. It was that girl again.  
  
  
Urd wandered about the liquor section trying to decide what to get.  
She'd been in too much of a hurry earlier to notice what kind of sake  
that boy had, which was a shame since it tasted so good. She'd never  
had to go get her own sake before, all she'd needed to do was tell  
Keiichi to go pick some up or grab what she wanted when there was a  
party with his Motor Club friends. Because of that she wasn't really  
sure what was good and what wasn't; she'd never paid enough attention  
before to figure out what the difference was besides taste.  
  
She ended up taking two bottles of a kind of sake she remembered as  
being good from one of the parties. She would have gotten more but that  
was all she could easily carry. It'd be enough to last her for the rest  
of the day, however, so she could always come back tomorrow or drink the  
stuff that was already at the temple, even if it didn't taste as good.  
Maybe before that was necessary Keiichi or Skuld would have figured out  
what was wrong with the moon rock. She doubted it, though.  
  
With a bottle under each arm she headed towards the exit. For some  
reason as she did so a few people gave her funny looks, but she put it  
down as them just not having seen her before since she couldn't think of  
any other cause for it. When she neared the door she noticed that there  
were several people in lines for some reason but shrugged it off and  
just passed on by. She glanced backwards just before walking out,  
wondering what the whole line business was, and then ran right into  
somebody.  
  
Completely surprised, she was knocked back and fell down, one of the  
bottles slipping out of her grip in the process. It hit the ground  
right when she did and shattered, splashing sake all over her nice,  
clean white clothes. Urd just sat there for a minute in a puddle of  
sake, staring down at herself in disbelief and growing anger. Twice in  
one day?  
  
"Hey, kid, are you okay?"  
  
Urd looked up to see who had spoken, and saw a slightly fat middle-aged  
man standing in front of her. Slapping away his outstretched hand, she  
jumped to her feet and snapped, "No, I'm not 'Okay!' I'm soaked in  
sake, old man!" Adjusting her grip on the remaining bottle, she turned  
around and stomped back towards the liquor section, her white shoes  
making little splashes as they impacted with the floor. "Now I've got  
to go get another bottle, too!"  
  
"Wait."  
  
She spun back around to face the man again, startled at the harshness in  
his voice now. "What?"  
  
"Who sold you sake?" he asked, his voice and eyes hard now.  
  
Um, sold? Glancing nervously towards the lines of people that were all  
looking at her now, who she now identified as customers waiting to pay  
for their groceries, she remembered that odd mortal tradition. She  
wasn't sure what happened when you tried to leave with stuff without  
giving them money in return, but she doubted it was good.  
  
She noticed for the first time that there were a number of people  
wearing the same outfit, most of them standing behind counters. She  
guessed that they worked here. She also saw that the guy she'd run  
into, who was currently glaring at her, also had the same clothes on.  
  
She smiled at the man brightly, exuding every bit of cuteness her  
current body possessed. "That guy sold it to me," she said, pointing to  
a random worker.  
  
As the man turned, the employee already protesting his innocence, she  
took off as fast as she could towards the nearby door, an arm  
outstretched to shove it open as quickly as possible.  
  
The door failed to open, and she again found herself falling on her rear  
after the impact. She also dropped the second bottle of sake, which  
broke when it hit the floor and left her lying on her back in a pool of  
the stuff.  
  
The door, sensitive to pressure upon the mat placed in front of it,  
whisked to the side to make exiting conveniently easy.  
  
Hearing footsteps and then feeling something splash against her hair,  
she tilted her head back and looked up to see the man glaring down at  
her.  
  
"Oops?"  
  
  
Ranma watched with growing interest as the girl confronted the store  
manager, noting the expression of confusion on her face when the man  
asked who sold her the sake she had dropped. She obviously didn't have  
a clue what he was talking about, and he recognized the 'I'm so sneaky'  
look that came over her face when she turned to point to one of the  
employees; he'd seen it enough from his old man, after all.  
  
He scowled when she ran into the door and managed to get herself caught,  
then looked around to see everybody else's reaction. Nobody seemed  
pleased to see the would-be thief, and some of the old women who had  
been bothering him earlier were making disapproving noises and muttering  
about kids these days and what a horrible place the world was becoming.  
  
He had no doubt that the girl, whose weird aura was substantially  
reduced even from what it had been two hours before, would have a lot of  
trouble getting somebody to let her guzzle down another bottle of sake,  
which he was pretty sure she would need soon to keep her from going into  
those odd convulsions again.  
  
So, as the manager dragged the girl by one arm, ignoring the curses she  
threw at him as well as the feeble kicks she used, he got ready to move.  
When they went by him, probably heading for the manager's office at the  
back to call the police, he stepped forward and punched the man on the  
inside of his wrist, right at the base, with a calculated amount of  
force.  
  
The man let loose a loud yell of pain and his was hand ripped away from  
the girl's as his forearm was yanked away from the previously stationary  
hand, spraining it badly as the ligaments were stretched almost to the  
breaking point. He clutched at his wrist, pulling it to his stomach  
protectively, the girl forgotten for the moment.  
  
In that moment, Ranma slipped one arm around the completely surprised  
girl's waist, the other going around her knees and lifting, causing her  
to be picked up easily by the young martial artist. Without hesitation  
he ran towards the exit, flashing a smile at the annoying old women as  
he did so.  
  
A few clerks tried to get in his way, to grab a hold of him so that he  
couldn't escape, but they were unprepared for his speed and weren't fast  
enough. He arrived at the doorway and paused briefly to allow it to  
open, and one jumped forward in a last attempt to stop him, but he  
ducked under the man's outstretched arms and kicked him in the side,  
knocking him into the glass wall that was the front of the store. It  
bowed out slightly under the pressure, but didn't break, and by the time  
the man recovered Ranma was already slipping out the door, which had  
whisked open in the meantime, and was running away with the girl still  
held in his arms.  
  
  
Urd stared with wide eyes at her pigtailed savior as he hurtled over a  
row of hedges the grew at the edge of the park, landing easily and not  
even causing her to bounce around in his arms. He quickly sped up now  
that there were no obstacles, running over to the path at the edge of  
the lake and then turning in one direction to circle around the water.  
Who was this kid? He wasn't even breathing hard!  
  
"So," he said conversationally, as though he wasn't going at a pace that  
would give full-grown Olympic runners an asthma attack, "where are you  
from?"  
  
"Um, Valhalla," she said, staring at him. "Why?"  
  
"I'm just wondering why you weren't familiar with the concept of buying  
things, that's all. Where's Valhalla?"  
  
"It's up north." She was getting a bit nervous now. Sure, he'd saved  
her again, but why, and where was he taking her? "Would you mind  
putting me down?"  
  
"Do you think you could outrun the police? I'm sure somebody saw us  
enter the park, and young or not, that guy is probably mad enough to  
call the cops and try to get us arrested for theft and assault."  
  
Police? Remembering his earlier comment, she decided to keep the  
question to herself, not wanting to reveal further ignorance. "Okay,  
then where are you taking me?" she asked, cranking her head to the side  
to look down at the lines of the sidewalk as they blurred past.  
  
"Right here," he said, turning away from the path and running towards a  
nearby group of trees and bushes. He slowed down almost to a stop as  
they approached, then carefully turned her to the side and slipped  
between a couple of the flowery hedges. Beyond was a small clearing,  
other plants making a circle around it.  
  
He took a few steps further towards the center, then bent to put her  
down, surprising her so that he had to grab her arm to keep her from  
falling over before she regained her balance. After a moment, when  
she'd reoriented herself, he let go, then walked over to one of the  
bushes as she watched in confusion. She blinked when he pushed a few  
branches aside to reveal the pack he'd been carrying earlier, which was  
far too big for her to not have seen it before--in fact, the branches  
should have been shoved aside by it, unable to be in their normal  
position which the bag currently occupied! So how had he hidden it  
there?  
  
He pulled the bag out into the grass and, pulling the top open, reached  
in to grab something. His hand came out holding another bottle of sake.  
He opened the bottle, took a swig of it, then looked over at her with an  
odd look in his eyes, catching her staring at it. He moved back towards  
her then sat down, cross-legged, a couple of feet away, facing her. He  
gestured for her to sit, and she did so with a bit of trepidation, but  
once she had, he held the bottle out towards her.  
  
She took it nervously, wondering why he was offering it to her, then  
noted her current power level and quickly upended the bottle, gulping  
down a third of its contents. When she finished, she wiped her mouth on  
her sleeve and realized for the first time since she'd gotten wet that  
she was still soaked in sake, some of her hair sticking messily to her  
face, and her clothes clinging and smelling of alcohol. She frowned,  
but held the bottle out to the boy, who was accepted it but just  
continued to stare at her.  
  
The way he was looking at her was. . . intent. It was very strange, and  
she found herself looking at the bottle suddenly, then around at the  
trees that encircled them. The boy looked to be about five years old-  
-that was too young, right? If he was older, it would be reasonable to  
suspect something, a guy going out of his way to help a girl out, then  
taking her someplace secluded and giving her booze, but at five years  
old? She suddenly wondered if he'd done anything to her while she was  
passed out earlier, but that time they'd been in a slightly more open  
location, so if he had, he probably would have gotten caught  
  
"Why," she licked her lips in apprehension, testing the taste of the  
sake for anything other than alcohol, "why are you looking at me like  
that?"  
  
He frowned, and she tensed, ready to jump to her feet, hoping she  
wouldn't have to use the miniscule amount of power that she currently  
possessed, when he spoke.  
  
"How do you do that?" he asked. "I tried the sake before giving it to  
you, and it was completely normal, yet you're somehow using it to gain  
power. It doesn't even seem to be a conscious decision on your part, it  
just happens without your paying attention. Oh, and you can relax, I'm  
not going to hurt you," the boy added, smirking now, but still staring  
at her.  
  
Urd stared back. "So you're not trying to get me drunk so that you can  
have your way with me?"  
  
The pigtailed boy's head drew back in surprise, and his cheeks colored  
to the most alarming shade of red. "Of course not!" he sputtered, with  
the most ridiculous look of embarrassment she'd ever seen written all  
over his face.  
  
The contrast to his previous calm state was so great that she couldn't  
help laughing, both at him and at herself for thinking somebody as young  
as him would try it.  
  
As soon as she did, though, he recovered and said, angrily, "Sorry,  
girl, you're a bit too young for me."  
  
She stopped laughing. "I'm older than you are, little boy!" she  
retorted, having noticed earlier that she was a couple of years older  
and about a foot taller than he was. His gaze was angry now, but she  
glared right back at the brat, daring him to go further. When he said  
nothing, she reached out and snagged the sake, which still sat on the  
ground between them, and downed another third of the bottle while  
staring him right in the eyes. While she did so, his eyes kinda lost  
focus, although they remained fixed in her direction. When she put the  
bottle down again, he spoke, frustration evident in his voice.  
  
"How do you DO that?" he demanded, staring at the bottle for a minute  
before gulping down a few mouthfuls of it himself.  
  
She smirked at the annoyed expression on his face when he stopped,  
finding herself incredibly amused by the situation. A mortal, trying to  
duplicate her ability to use sake as a secondary power source?  
  
"You'll never get it," she said, and the only thing that kept her from  
grinning as he glared at her and tried swallowing some more of the stuff  
was that she noticed the dropping levels of liquid in the bottle.  
  
As soon as he put it back down, she snatched the bottle up and guzzled  
the remainder before tossing the bottle aside. Urd could feel her smile  
taking up her whole face as the boy stared at her in consternation.  
  
"Are you gonna get another bottle?" she asked.  
  
  
Ranma stared at the girl before him, who was obviously fairly affected  
by the alcohol at this point. Not as much as she probably should be,  
though. Somebody her size should be passed out after drinking as much  
as she had, but instead she was just speaking a little slower and her  
eyes seemed to have trouble focusing.  
  
That weird aura of hers was, by this point, really strong and making his  
skin feel kinda tingly because of the way he was opening himself up to  
it, trying to get a sense of it so he could figure out how it was  
powered by sake. He was pretty sure that if he managed that, he could  
duplicate the trick, which could be a pretty helpful martial arts  
technique since it seemed to negate the effects of the booze as well as  
being a good alternative ki source. If he could do the same thing she  
was doing, he could be utterly exhausted yet still be able to replenish  
himself easily with the small side-effect of a slower response time. He  
could probably even reduce or eliminate the drawbacks if he were to  
improve upon the technique.  
  
But for now, he was no closer to discovering the trick than he had been  
when he started trying to do so. All he'd found out was that her power,  
when she wasn't drinking, seemed to be diminishing slowly. She was also  
getting stronger at a regular rate, a certain amount of sake would cause  
a corresponding increase in her aura, and as far as he could tell, if  
she had a limit, she wasn't showing the slightest signs of being close  
to it. Was the drain on her ki somehow related to the way she got its  
levels so high? Maybe she was like Ms. Hinako was when she was younger,  
sickly and almost-dying, with the sake technique being the only thing  
keeping her alive?  
  
"Hey, kid," she repeated, "are you going to get another bottle?"  
  
He frowned at her comment, and she just smiled back, her earlier  
nervousness completely gone. "No," he decided, and she looked somewhat  
disappointed.  
  
"Okay, then I'm going home," she said, and stood up. Before turning to  
leave, she looked down at him, and said, "Thanks for the help, little  
boy." Giving one last, victorious smile, she pushed her way through the  
bushes and walked away.  
  
As soon as she was out of sight, his own scowl turned into a grin. Did  
she really think he was going to give up that easily? The hole in his  
stomach had by now been replaced by a warm feeling, even though he  
hadn't drunk all that much, and his physical and mental tiredness was  
easily ignored. There was a technique to be learned, and that girl had  
it.  
  
He jumped to his feet and went over to his pack, tying the top back down  
before he slipped it onto his shoulders. Once it was secure and he was  
ready to go, he slipped back into the Umisenken and headed off after the  
girl, determined to figure out her sake absorbing ability.  
  
He found her a few minutes later, and followed her silently as she  
walked through the park. Eventually the exited and headed down one of  
the roads that ran alongside it, until after about a half hour when the  
ground sloped up into a hill. Despite the way the girl was having a bit  
of difficulty making her way up it, she still had that annoying smile on  
her face, which was made worse by the trouble he was having himself.  
Walking up a steep hill with a few hundred pounds of weights strapped to  
his back wasn't at all fun, and he was having to bend forward an obscene  
amount simply to keep his balance and not fall backwards.  
  
When they finally made it to the top, he saw some kind of temple, and,  
to his surprise, the girl entered it without the slightest hesitation.  
Still cloaked in the Umisenken, he crept up to the front door and  
listened for a moment to make sure nobody was present, then slid it open  
and stepped inside, closing it quickly behind him. He saw the shoes  
arranged just inside the door and winced, feeling slightly guilty that  
he was about to walk around the house without taking his own off first,  
but simply leaving them at the door would cause problems, so he  
repressed the feeling for the time being.  
  
He felt for the girl's aura and was shocked when he felt two others  
quite similar, in a different area of the house from where the first  
was. Did they know that technique, too? That'd make it easier to  
learn, if he could observe several people using it. It would also  
explain why that girl was wandering around outside looking for sake;  
they must have run through all that they had here, if there were three  
people drinking as much as she did.  
  
He went down the hallway towards the two people he sensed, since he  
could feel that the girl was past them, and came to a kitchen, where he  
was again surprised. There was a man around twenty years old, a bit on  
the short side, making dinner. He looked perfectly normal, but he was  
also acting quite calmly about the midget woman sitting on the counter  
nearby, instructing him on what to do as he prepared the food.  
  
Seated at a table in the next room, which he could see because there  
wasn't a divider between the kitchen and dining room, was another girl.  
This one was around twelve years old and he could see marks on her  
forehead, just as the midget and the white-haired girl had. Were they  
related?  
  
She was mumbling to herself and writing on a piece of paper, something  
about moon rocks, which he didn't really understand. Who cared about  
moon rocks?  
  
Ranma looked over at the midget, who was still talking to the guy making  
dinner, and studied the marks on her face as well. The three who had  
weird auras all had those odd tattoos, so he guessed that they were  
connected in some way, but he couldn't see how drawing on your forehead  
would make a difference in what sake did to you. Maybe it was  
hereditary, like with Herb's dragon blood and increased ki abilities?  
All three girls had different markings, though, which made it seem less  
likely.  
  
"Oh!"  
  
Distracted from his thoughts by the startled sound, he noticed that the  
midget was the one that had made it and that she was staring right at  
him. The guy was starting to turn to see what she was looking at, too.  
  
Shit!  
  
He pulled back around the corner and into the hallway, focusing on  
making himself invisible, since he must have slipped and let the  
Umisenken go on accident. He quickly made his way to the door and  
exited, then jumped silently onto the roof in case anybody tried looking  
for him, which he was sure they would. Even an outcry of intruders from  
a midget would be looked into by anybody halfway sensible.  
  
Sure enough, he could hear somebody running around underneath him, and  
after a couple of minutes the door slid open and somebody walked  
outside. Still holding the Umisenken, he crawled over to the edge of  
the roof and looked down to see the raven-haired girl scanning the area  
for trespassers. Now the midget was on her shoulder.  
  
"Big sister," said the girl, "I think I'm going to build a defense  
system for the house. I don't want that nasty Mara getting in here  
without us noticing."  
  
"Oh, that's alright, Skuld. I don't see anybody out here, so it must  
have been my imagination. Lets go back inside, Keiichi is waiting and  
doesn't know how to fix dinner," replied the miniature human.  
  
"Okay, Belldandy," Skuld said dubiously, "but I'm still going to build  
something just to be on the safe side. Actually, I know just what to  
make," she added, her voice filled with excitement now as they went back  
in and shut the door.  
  
Ranma listened silently as the two of them headed back towards the  
kitchen. Well, now he knew what their names were, if not the name of  
the white-haired girl. He could also tell now that he'd had a bit more  
time to study them that their energies were different from the other  
girl's, although he couldn't say how so. Both Skuld and Belldandy  
seemed to have more power than Urd did, only he couldn't tell how much.  
All three had that weird drain on their aura.  
  
Checking for their auras again, he found that they were back in the  
kitchen, and that the other girl still hadn't moved. He stood up and  
soundlessly crept across the roof, then peeked over the edge when he was  
above her. There was a small window just under the ledge, obviously  
designed just for letting light in and not for viewing through, and  
inside he could see the girl soaking in the furo.  
  
He pulled himself back up quickly.  
  
"Heh... peeking on a little girl, that's just pathetic," he muttered.  
  
Slipping his pack off and lying down beside it, he wondered what to do  
next. Looking up at the clouds, he suddenly noticed something. His  
clothes stank of sake from where they had been in contact with that girl  
as he'd carried her earlier.  
  
"Dammit. This sucks."  
  
  
Urd stared at the ceiling, enjoying the sensation of being enveloped by  
the comforting warmth that was the hot furo. Everything below the water  
felt absolutely dreamy, from her shoulders all the way down to the tip  
of her painted toes.  
  
Above the water, however, was a different matter. She'd finally washed  
away all the stickiness caused by the sake she had fallen in earlier,  
but the smell lingered stubbornly.  
  
Who was that boy? Now that she'd had a bit of time to relax and think  
about the situation, she realized that even a gifted human his age  
shouldn't be as physically adept as he appeared to be, let alone able to  
read auras well enough to sense her continuously dwindling mana. The  
fact that he could even sense her godhood was amazing in itself,  
considering how low her power level was with the current crises, but to  
be capable of sensing the minute changes in it as he did was beyond  
belief.  
  
How could somebody so young do such a thing, which she would only expect  
of a god-trained warrior, yet not realize her divine origins? It just  
didn't make any sense. If Yggdrasill wasn't down, and she'd thought to  
ask the kid's name, she could have looked him up to find out how he did  
it, but if not for Yggdrasill being down, she probably would never have  
run into him anyway. Being a goddess could be such a harsh position to  
hold.  
  
Oh well. No need to worry about it, since she doubted she'd ever see  
him again.  
  
Sighing, she dipped her head underwater once more, holding herself there  
as long as she could stand not breathing, the feeling of sleepy  
weightlessness improving her state of mind immeasurably. When she could  
no longer continue, she rose up, standing, and stepped out of the tub  
and proceeded to dry herself, then wrapped a normal-sized towel that was  
disproportionately large around her nakedness.  
  
She'd wasted no time picking clean clothes up when arriving home, and  
had gone immediately towards the furo to get rid of her reeking clothes.  
Unfortunately that path had taken her directly past her 'younger'  
sister, who'd made sure to comment upon her state of appearance and  
smell. Usually when such things happened Skuld knew better than to push  
her luck, but the little brat had gone too far today and would be  
punished in full for her transgressions.  
  
Now if only she could figure out a proper method of punishment that she  
could enforce while being utterly powerless in terms of magical ability.  
  
Thinking on the matter, she slid the door to the hallway open and exited  
the furo, heading towards her room to get dressed. This time Skuld said  
nothing as she passed through the kitchen, instead, she was absorbed in  
drawing schematics for some kinda weird robot. Probably something that  
made defective moon rocks in masse. Crazy kid.  
  
As she walked out of the kitchen, she heard Belldandy call, "Dinner will  
be ready in five minutes, Urd!"  
  
"Okay, I'll be right there," she replied.  
  
Once in her room she started sorting through her closet, which Belldandy  
had somehow managed to stuff with clothes that fit her current form,  
although she had no idea who that had been managed, nor how Belldandy  
had managed to pick out clothes that were actually somewhat tasteful  
rather than those bland housedresses she always wore. Disgusting  
things, not fit to adorn a body as beautiful as hers.  
  
After a few minutes of hunting down the perfect outfit she headed back  
to the dining room. The table was set now and Keiichi was bringing in  
the last of the food, Belldandy perched comfortably on one shoulder as  
he did so, while Skuld was still scribbling in her notebook.  
  
After she and Keiichi had sat at the table, and Belldandy had been set  
down before regaining her regular, more energy consuming form, the three  
of them waited for Skuld to quit working. After a minute of waiting Urd  
was about to reach and knock some sense into her little sister, when  
Belldandy spoke quietly.  
  
"Skuld," she said, "it's time to eat."  
  
Skuld looked up in surprise, and, when she saw everybody staring at her,  
blushed heavily. "Ah, sorry big sister, everyone." Quickly setting her  
pencil and paper aside, she announced, "Itadakimasu!"  
  
Urd repeated it along with the other two, then they began to eat. After  
complimenting Keiichi on his cooking, she asked, between bites, "So,  
Skuld, what were you working on? Some kind of robot to fix our  
problem?"  
  
Skuld stopped, a blank expression on her face, chopsticks halfway to her  
mouth. "Problem?"  
  
"You weren't trying to figure out what was wrong with the moon rocks?"  
Keiichi blurted out in obvious surprise.  
  
Skuld colored again, her mouth working its way into a soundless "Oh."  
  
"I can't believe you," Urd exclaimed, setting her food down. "Here I  
am, unable to cast magic or even use my real body, and you're playing  
around with one of your stupid toys?"  
  
"It's... It's not stupid!" Skuld stammered, then shot back, "besides,  
you weren't doing anything to help, either!"  
  
"I CAN'T do anything to help, remember?! You and Belldandy already used  
up the moon rock's power! I have to keep myself all boozed up or I'll  
get too young to do anything. You should have let me use the rock,  
instead, since your age can change a lot more than mine can before it  
really becomes a problem. Because you didn't, I'm stuck like this, and  
it's your responsibility to fix it!"  
  
"Urd," Belldandy's voice distracted both of them, and they turned to  
look at her before she continued, "Skuld was trying to build something  
to keep us safe from intruders during this crisis. What do you think  
would happen if Mara were to show up, and none of us could use our  
powers? You know that Yggdrasil's being down won't effect her in any  
way, like it does us."  
  
Urd frowned in thought. "Okay, I can see that, I guess... although I  
still think the time would be better spent trying to get our powers back  
rather than working on some robot that either wouldn't work right, or,  
if it did, would be easily overpowered by somebody of Mara's abilities.  
A first-class demon isn't going to have any trouble with one of Skuld's  
toys, no matter how good a job she does on it."  
  
"Then neither would a second-class, limited goddess!" Skuld protested  
loudly.  
  
"That's different! I'm way better than some stupid robot, brat!"  
  
Belldandy interrupted again, saying, "Actually, I didn't intend for it  
to fight Mara. There was somebody else here earlier, in the house while  
you were bathing. He looked like a mortal boy, but he was...  
shimmering, like some kind of mirage or as if he was putting off heat  
waves. I was hoping that whatever Skuld built would be able to detect  
him, if he came back."  
  
"I thought you said that he left," said Keiichi.  
  
"He seems to have... but why was he here in the first place? He didn't  
look confused, like he was lost, and he definitely wasn't normal in  
appearance." She frowned, then muttered, "What an odd little boy...."  
  
Urd scowled at Skuld, mad that the little brat had stuck her tongue out  
right when Belldandy started talking, she asked, "Okay, who's this kid  
you're talking about, and why didn't you tell me about him?"  
  
"Well," began Belldandy, as Keiichi and Skuld used the opportunity to  
eat some of their food, "he was about five years old, had black hair  
done in a pigtail, and he was wearing the cutest little girl clothes."  
  
Urd stared at her younger sister, then cursed herself for not paying  
more attention. What kind of idiot would follow somebody around, trying  
to learn the secrets of alcohol empowerment? Just to make sure, she  
asked, "Was he wearing a really big backpack? Brown, looked like it  
weighed a lot?"  
  
The brightening look on Belldandy's face, and the way Skuld and Keiichi  
both seemed suspicious, confirmed her guess.  
  
Urd sighed, then picked at some of her food for a moment as the others  
looked on expectantly. Skuld was opening her mouth to speak when she  
cut the younger girl off, deliberately, as revenge for the whole tongue  
nonsense.  
  
"Okay, I know who it is. He's some weird mortal that was bothering me  
earlier today. Somehow he can sense auras, and, since I collapsed right  
in front of him and got him to give me a bottle of sake, he was able to  
figure out that it was my secondary power source. So now he wants to  
know how to gain power from drinking sake."  
  
She frowned at Keiichi, who had just started laughing for some reason,  
then looked back at Belldandy. "I didn't think he'd follow me here, but  
he must have. He looked normal when I met him, except for the clothes,  
but he's really strong and fast for a mortal."  
  
Belldandy stared down at her food for a minute, then brought her eyes  
back up to look at Urd. "Does he know you're a goddess? If he can see  
auras, he should be able to figure it out. If he was here, he could  
probably sense the same thing about Skuld and I."  
  
She noticed that Keiichi seemed nervous at the idea of somebody finding  
out about their true identities, so she said, "No, I don't think he  
does. Otherwise he wouldn't figure he could learn how to use my  
secondary power source himself. He'd know it was just part of being a  
goddess and something a mortal couldn't duplicate."  
  
Belldandy nodded, then turned to their little sister. "Skuld, do you  
think you could make your robot detect humans? If it'd take very long,  
though, you should work on figuring out how to fix the moon rocks  
instead, since that's more important."  
  
Skuld seemed to think about it for a minute before replying. "Yeah, I  
can just make it so that it detects mortal life energy within a certain  
distance, then sounds an alarm if it does. It could have a radar  
attached, too, so that we can find him easily," she added happily.  
  
"Um, won't it just keep going off because of me?" asked Keiichi, causing  
Belldandy to look concerned, and Urd smirked. They were so cute!  
  
"Well you could just go to your sister's or something, until we catch  
this guy," Skuld said with a smile.  
  
Little brat.  
  
"No," Belldandy said firmly, "if that's the only option, then we just  
won't worry about this boy. He'll probably go give up pretty quickly,  
if he hasn't already, and if not, he's unlikely to be able to cause any  
trouble."  
  
"Yeah, he's a bit of a jerk, but he doesn't seem that bad," Urd said.  
"Mara is the real problem and there isn't anything we can do about her  
short of getting this aging thing figured out and our powers stabilized  
as soon as we can." She looked at Skuld, who was scowling at Keiichi.  
"Unless, of course, you can make something that would work despite  
Keiichi's presence, and do it quickly?"  
  
Skuld sighed. "I guess. I can make a little handheld scanner, then  
just attach it or work it into the robot's systems when I get that done.  
It shouldn't be too hard to make it so that it doesn't respond to  
Keiichi's life energies, but still sets off an alarm if other humans get  
too close."  
  
Urd nodded, happy that the situation had been figured out and Skuld put  
in her place, then turned back to her food and sake, which were both  
starting to get closer to room temperature than she would have liked.  
  
After they finished eating, Urd went to watch TV as Skuld grabbed some  
ice cream and headed to her room to work on her radar-thingy, and  
Keiichi cleaned the kitchen with the once-again miniature Belldandy  
somehow managing to take a nap on his shoulder. She wasn't aging like  
Urd and Skuld were, but her power was still low enough that spending  
dinner in her normal form was very draining and required that she  
recuperate afterwards.  
  
#####  
  
stop for now. 


End file.
